For the Love of a Hero
by Ayannamoonmaiden
Summary: For years, Jane Foster only cared about her research. Until the night she hits a crazy man with her van. Then everything changes.
1. Chapter 1

Jane Foster looked up at the clear sky above her head, determined to stare at it until it produced the results that her calculations predicted. Her fingers drummed against the dashboard as the steering wheel dug into her stomach and her mind checked and rechecked her calculations. Her mentor and friend, Erik, sat dubiously staring up at the sky. "Wait for it!" She could feel his doubt and impatience. Jane cursed the confidence that caused her to call her old professor out to the middle of nowhere, to sit in a beat up old hummer in the middle of the night. "Its never been this late before," She muttered, pulling a chart towards herself to check what she had already gone over five times.

"Can I turn on the radio?" Darcy whined from the drivers seat, her hands inching towards the dial. Jane felt the headache behind her eyes crank up a few notches. "No," She snapped, her frustration with the anomalies' delay getting vented out on her lovable assistant. The girl huffed, flopping back against the chair twirling a long dark brown curl around a finger.

"Jane, you can't keep doing this," she could hear the pity in his voice and steadily ignored his gaze.

"The last seventeen occurrences have been predictable to the second." Jane muttered, almost to herself as caught a glimpse of Erik's face in the mirror.

"Jane, you're an astrophysicist, not a storm chaser." His patience was more frustrating than her lack of a results. She knew what he thought about her research, calling it her white whale. "I'm telling you, there's a connection between these atmospheric disturbances and my research." The dubious look on his face remained and as another minute ticked by she felt obligated to justify the expense of his last minute, cross country plane ticket. "I wouldn't have asked you to fly out here if I wasn't absolutely sure."

Darcy frowned, her brow furrowing, as the flash of blue and lighting in the rear view mirror caught her eye. "Umm…Jane, I think you want to see this."

"Not now"

"I really think you want to take a look at this!" Jane and Erik spun around at the urgency in her voice. They gaped at the huge anomaly in the sky. It was glowing green blue, like the auroras up north. Except they were in middle of no where New Mexico and weren't anywhere near where auroras were common. The sky rippled like they were underwater staring up at the surface of something far above them.

"What is that?"

"I thought you said it was a subtle aurora!" Erik gasped and Jane felt a moment of triumph. Before reality hit her and she screamed "Go," Darcy immediately stamped on the gas and Jane nearly tumbled out of the van until Erik tugged her back in.

She dragged herself into the passanger seat, andrenaline coursing through her veins and overriding her usual common sense. "Get closer!" She told Darcy as she slammed her hand down on the window button to lower the glass.

"Right good one!" Darcy shouted back, beginning to look scared of her boss, but Jane paid no attention. She grabbed the handheld camera from where it was bouncing on the dashboard, about to slide off.

She ignored the little warning in the back of her mind, knowing the chance of this validation ever happening again was infinitesimally slim to none. "Go!" She leaned precariously out of the window. A chuckle bubbled up from her chest and Darcy looked at her like she was crazy. The sky twirled like a whirlpool, colored dust and wind descending until it touched down with a concussion of energy that whipped her hair back from her face. Erik gasped behind her. They were close now. Jane counted the seconds until they'd be inside the event. Suddenly whiplash jerked her head to one side as Darcy yanked the wheel to the left.

"What are you doing?" Jane shrieked. No no no! She needed every ounce of data, every tiny bit to get the validation of years of study and disbelief.

"I am not dying for six college credits!" Her assistant was shouting at her. Jane felt fury flash and she lunged for the wheel, yanking it back to the right. Shrieks filled the car as they struggled. She managed to yank them back onto course in time to watch them enter the whirling storm. Her hair lifted as lighting crackled around them. They continued to struggle as out of the whirling darkness a shape took form. She squinted and then gasped.

They stopped fighting and worked to not hit the shadowy figure of a man that had appeared in the storm. The girls shrieked as the van fishtailed unavoidably close to the shadow. The sound of his skull and body connecting with the van was loud over the storm, over the lighting and of their screams as the shadow bounced off of the side of the van. His head cracked against the glass and he tumbled out of sight. She snapped out of her drive for research in an instant. She gasped, exchanging a terrified glance with Darcy as Erik tried to pick himself off of the floor, and out from under a deluge of useless parts that had fallen on him. The consequences rushed in as she fumbled for the door handle. Flashlight in hand she ran towards the figure that lay crumpled on the ground. "Legally I think that was your fault." Darcy shouted from somewhere behind her.

"Get the first aid kit," She called as she threw herself onto her knees. "Do me a favor and don't be dead, please!" She begged as she reached down to heave the man over onto his back. His heart pounded underneath her fingertips and she let out a tiny sigh of relief as he rolled over with a gasp. Startled and confused his bright blue eyes met hers and held them. Behind her she heard Darcy stop short as the light of the flashlights caught his face.

"Whoa, does he need C.P.R? Because I totally know C.P.R!"

Jane ignored her, instead letting her eyes skip over his face, looking for blood or anything. When she looked back at him again he was still staring at her. Now that her heart rate was slowing and it was clear he wasn't about to die in her arms she could let herself look at the man she had just creamed with her van. He had propped himself up on an elbow and she pulled away as she realized he was closer to her than any man had been in years. His hair was long, the femininity of it offset by strong face and blonde beard. Those eyes caught her again and it took her a moment to realize that they were just sitting there, breathing hard and staring at each other.

The moment was broken as he flopped fully onto his back with a groan, one arm falling over to crush the dried grass. She stumbled back into her brain as the situation came back to her once again. She looked around for anything a car, dirt bike, atv, anything to explain how she hit a guy in the middle of an empty desert. "Where did he come from?"

Suddenly he was one his feet, faster than she expected and she almost fell over backwards. She got to her feet unsteadily as he groaned.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"Hammer?" His voice rumbled as he staggered. She took an involuntary step back as she realized he towered over everyone else there. "Hammer?" He repeated again.

"Yeah, we can tell you're hammered, its pretty obvious." Darcy piped up, the snark returning in full force. Darcy let her flashlight tip and Jane gasped as it caught the glimpse of something on the ground. "Oh my god! Erik!" She gasped as the light showed a symmetrical pattern burned into the grass and dirt at their feet. "Look at this! We have to move quickly before this all changes." She fumbled around in her pockets for her notebook.

"Jane, we have to take him to the hospital."

She could hear the man shouting in the background, but her eyes were busy attempting to commit the complicated pattern to her memory. "He's fine, look at him." She gave him a quick glance, up and moving without stumbling, no reason to worry.

"Heimdall, I know you can hear me! Open the Bifrost." Oops… apparently not fine. He was shouting at the sky. Still a crazy man wasn't more important than her research right now. "Hospital, you go. I'll stay."

Suddenly he turned and pointed to Erik, "You. What realm is this?" Erik and Jane looked up at him blankly. "Alfheim, Nornheim."

"New Mexico!" A tiny red dot appeared on his chest as Darcy pulled her taser from her purse and pointed it at him.

"You dare threaten me, Thor, with so puny a weapo…" He took a step forwards and dropped like a stone. Jane gaped at him, then up at Darcy who was still standing with her taser, wires attached to the twitching man.

"What? He was freaking me out!"

Jane staredc for a moment before she and Erik turned to the man on the ground. Erik approached him cautiously, nudging him with his foot from a safe distance before leaning down to take his pulse. Jane sighed, putting her notebook back in her pocket. She grabbed her camera from the back seat as Erik put his hands beneath the guys shoulders and tried to drag him towards the van. He wasn't very successful. It took him and Darcy almost ten minutes to maneuver him to the back of the van and in, Erik almost falling on top of him.

"Next time you decide to Taser someone, make sure they're already in the car, OK?" Erik huffed, with a final grunt they shoved him into the small empty space between the equipment. "Jane! Come on!" She snapped a final couple pictures and darted back towards the van. She hoped she'd have enough that once they took care of the crazy man in the back seat, she would have everything she'd need.

She was flipping through the pictures on the memory card, checking the detail as they pulled into the driveway of the ER. Thankfully they had a few nice EMT's to help them maneuver the man into a wheelchair. He disappeared behind moving doors as Jane tentatively approached the check-in desk, unsure of what to say. The nurse behind the desk looked up at her with a smile.

"We just need some information from you. Name?"

She blanked, scrambling for a moment before she remember what he had said. "He said it was.." She hesitated for a moment, knowing what her answer was gonna sound like, "Thor?"

"T-H-O-R." The woman spelled it out to herself. "And your relationship to him?"

She flushed bright pink and stumbled through her answer "I've never seen him before."

"Until she hit him with a car." Jane snapped her gaze to her assistant with a glare.

"I grazed him," She amended quickly. "But she Tasered him."

Darcy's chin lifted proudly and the look on her face seemed like she was reliving the moment a bit. "Yes I did." She grinned.

Jane shook her head as the nurse looked at them with confusion. "Is that it?"

"I guess so," the nurse answered tentatively, a distant shouting echoed through the doors and suddenly the EMT's outside were running towards the ER. "You're good to go, thank you!" She shouted as a voice over the intercom started calling a code yellow. She hurried off through the doors, leaving Jane and her friends staring after them.

"Well," Jane started after a moment, "That was interesting." And she turned and headed for the car.

It was practically dawn by the time they got back their lab, or at least what they could call their lab. The refurbished car dealership filled with a hodge-podge of home made equipment looked more insane than official. 270 degrees of floor to ceiling windows didn't help either. Another two hours for the picture to be printed, data recorded and the findings to be posted on the corkboard in the center. Jane had been typing on the computer for twenty minutes when Erik finally spoke up, "You don't think this was just a magnetic storm… do you?"

Jane backed away from the desktop enough to let him see what she had been staring at, "Look, the lensing around these edges is characteristic of an Einstein-Rosen Bridge." He repeated the last few words with her as identical smiles grew across their faces.

"A what?" Darcy piped up from across the table, her brow furrowed behind cat eye glasses.

Erik looked confusedly at her assistant then back at Jane, "I thought you were a science major?"

"Political science."

"She was the only applicant," Jane said as an explanation, clicking through the program.

"An Einstein-rosen bridge is a theoretical connection between two different points of space-time." Jane smiled slightly as she noticed the glazed look on her assistants face. Having attempted to explain the complicated astrophysics to her numerous times without success she settled for the simple explanation.

"It's a wormhole," She interrupted as she passed on her way around the table. She reached for a piece of paper, eager to start bouncing her theories off of her old mentor. "Erik. Look. What do you see?" She attempted to keep the excitement from her face.  
"Stars?" Erik seemed confused by the obvious answer.

"Yeah but not our stars." He glanced up at her and she let herself have a small smile, "See this is the star alignment for our quadrant this time of year. And unless Ursa Minor decided to take a day off, these are someone elses constellations!" She couldn't help herself as she almost bounced with excitement. So much for a cold scientific analysis. But she couldn't help it, years of theories and research were finally falling into place.

"Hey!" Darcy's voice came from over by the cork board where she had put up the infrared images from the event. "Check this out." Jane walked over, her eyes focusing on the photograph in Darcy's hand. She was five feet away when she noticed it, something she had missed up close. She continued forward, gape jawed. Erik was silent then like a lightbulb going off he gasped as well, "No, it can't be." He breathed as they all stared at the dark shadow in the shape of a man from fifty feet up inside the vortex. She turned in shock, instinctively pulling her glasses from her head as she began to walk, then run towards the van. She heard their footsteps behind her as they hesitated for a moment then scrambled to follow. "I think I left something at the hospital."

She drove recklessly fast down to the hospital, praying the whole while she wouldn't have to waste time dealing with a ticket. She ran towards the hospital entrance, ignoring the front desk as she charged ahead. Slowing to a power walk she single mindedly headed towards the ER station.

"Where's the man I brought in earlier?" She gasped out at the nurse behind the desk.

The nurse looked up in surprise, looking more unkempt and frazzled than earlier, cradling a phone between her shoulder and her ear. "He's down the hall but I'm afraid you can't go see him." Jane was about to argue when a voice on the phone drew the nurses attention.

Jane turned and headed down the hallway the nurse had gestured at distractedly, leaving Darcy and Erik to catch up. She glanced at the clipboards outside the door until she saw one marked only with Thor. The door was open and when they ducked inside the room was empty. She noticed the restraints on the bars of the bed, giving them only a passing glance before she realized what this meant. "Nononono." She breathed as she turned around and started to frantically look up and down the halls. After alerting the front desk, who was not at all thrilled to find out that the man who apparently destroyed their ER and dislocated a security guards shoulder had wandered off, and an hour of searching Jane returned reluctantly to her car. Anger simmered below her skin as she threw herself into the front seat and slammed the door.

"I just lost my most important piece of evidence." She snapped out. "Typical." Years of frustrations, setbacks and disbelief were coming to a head but she refused to give up. She had dealt with setbacks before and, damn it, this one wasn't going to stop her.

"So now what?"

"We find him," She answered, determination starting to replace the anger. She wasn't going to let this stop her, not when she finally had something to go on after all these years.

"Did you see what he did in there?" Erik was staring at her in disbelief. "I'm not sure finding him is the best idea."

"Well our data can't tell us what its like to be in that event, and he can. So we're going to find him."

"Okaay," Darcy rummaged in her purse, pulled out her taser and began to check it.

"So we're going to look all over New Mexico, right?"

"Exactly," Jane said as she stubbornly threw the van into reverse and began to back out of the badly done parking job. Suddenly a blonde head was in her back window and yet again the man known as Thor was saying hello to the ground after being hit with her car. "Whaat?" Jane shrieked as she threw the car into park.

"I'm so sorry," She was gasping as she stumbled out of the car and towards the unconscious man, again, "I swear I'm not doing this on purpose." She reached down to cradle his face in her hands. He was unconscious… again. Luckily this time the van was much closer.

((A/N: Hey guys, this is a new fic. Its almost entirely written and from here I'll move onto the other Marvel Movies when I get a chance. I'd absolutely love reviews and feedback if you can swing it!))


	2. Chapter 2

They managed to get him into the back again and, with furtive looks around the mostly empty parking lot, got out without anyone noticing the fugitive in the back seat. Erik took the wheel as Jane sat in the back, the mans head cradled on her lap to keep it from hitting the equipment during turns. His eyes were closed, his face much less intimidating without the thunderous confused frown that had been there every time she had seen him before. His beard was soft against her hands, close cut and clean. Not what she figured from a crazy guy wandering around the desert. In fact, now that she thought about it, he was clean, well shaven and groomed. If he wasn't in a hospital gown, she felt like he'd look like any other man in this small town, except, she amended as his eyes flashed open, way better looking.

"Hey," She said softly as his eyes focused and he seemed about to get up. "You need to hold still for me okay." He strained for a moment, then relaxed against her lap with a sigh. "We found you in the parking lot." She stopped talking, wondering how to explain this so they didn't' seem creepy or crazy. "We figured you needed some clothing and some food. The least we can do after hitting you with our car."

"Car," He grunted that confused look back on his face again, "You mean your metal chariot?" His accent was distinctly foreign, yet unidentifiable.

"Umm, yeah," She blinked at him, she thought even crazy people knew what cars were.

He strained to get up again, before collapsing again. "I hurt," He muttered, almost in confusion.

"Yeah I'm sorry about that, you know, being hit twice with a car, and tasered tends to do that to people…" She trailed off realizing how bad that sounded, "You've had a rough day."

He blinked up at her, the bright blue of his eyes echoed by the cloudless New Mexico sky, "You have no idea." His voice rumbled through her and despite herself she felt her heart stutter.

"My name is Jane, Jane Foster." She said as they pulled up to the lab. He continued to stare up at her as Erik parked.

"This is Erik Selvig and Darcy," She gestured at the two people in the front seat as he pulled himself into a sitting position with a groan. He looked the two of them over and gave a haughty nod. She blinked, taken aback by his sudden arrogant demeanor.

"This way," She muttered, climbing out from behind him and striding towards the house. She turned away and made a beeline for the closet in the back of the large space, digging through the boxes she didn't have the room to unpack. She heard Darcy directing him towards the bathroom as her hands closed around the soft cotton and worn denim of her exe's clothing. They had been in the laundry when he had come to get his stuff, so he missed them. She turned in time to see Thor going into the bathroom, a sliver of bare back golden against the blue. Yeah, it was probably a good thing she had some clothing of Donalds, he couldn't keep walking around like that. She walked towards the bathroom, then edged through the door with her eyes averted. "I brought you a change of clothing." She heard the rustle of his paper gown and nearly jumped out of her skin when his fingers brushed her hand before gently taking the fabric from her hands. Her eyes flashed up to his face and he gave her a small crooked grin.

"Um.. yeah.." She stuttered, backing towards the door. She thudded into the wall and realized she had missed the door by a few feet. She practically fell out, as Darcy smirked at her from the table. "Stuff it," Jane muttered as she walked past, attempting to keep her dignity. She plucked her journal up from the stack of papers and buried her nose in it as she paced. She couldn't help noticing Darcy's wide cheshire grin had turned from Jane to the open door where Thor was changing… without shutting the door. She blushed violently red as he finished buttoning up his pants, snapping her eyes back to her book.

"You know, for a crazy homeless person, he's pretty cut," Darcy said appreciatively from where she lounged against the table. "Hey sorry I tased you!" She called as he strode across the open room, uncaring about the huge floor to ceiling windows. He was naked from the waist up, his musculature carved more deeply than the Greek sculptures her father used to take her to go see. Broad strong shoulders tapered to a waist so small Donald's jeans hung low on his hips, revealing a deep v that seriously shouldn't be possible. His attention was caught by the sensor array she had built, more specifically Darcy's ipod that was chilling on it. Instinctively she hurried forward. "Excuse me," He didn't acknowledge her, "Excuse me!" She grabbed it from his hand and put it back where Darcy had left it. Suddenly she realized she was inches away from his bare chest. She stuttered, unsure where to go as he clearly didn't seem to care about the invasion of his personal space. She gulped as she got a full view of lower chest, realizing just how much he towered over her. Her gaze darted to his face, before dropping back down to his abs. Yep those were really that cut, she brought her pencil to her lips and decided to intently study the doodles on the page as she struggled to regain her train of thought.

"What is this?" She looked up to see him looking at the name tag on the t-shirt.

"Oh," She made a face, one that she reserved for anything having to do with her ex, Donald Blake, M.D. She reached out to pull it off with a wry chuckle. "My ex, good with patients, bad with relationships." She blinked, wondering why the heck she was babbling on about her ex. "Uh, they were the only clothes that I had that would fit you."

"They will suffice," He turned away, a clear dismissal.

"You're welcome," She said sarcastically, annoyance rising in her. If it wasn't for the fact that she needed what he'd tell her, she'd kick his extremely good looking butt out the front door. Remember the research, she thought as she tried to force her annoyance down.

"This mortal form has grown weak." He tugged the shirt over his head. Despite her annoyance, she noticed it fit him better than it ever did Donald. "I need sustenance." Jane glanced at the table where Darcy and Erik were exchanging opened mouth glances.

"Well then," Jane said as she grabbed her car keys, "Guess its time to get His highness some food."

By the time they had settled down at the local diner Thor had already down her entire box of emergency poptarts she had stored in the back of the van. The entire, full box of strawberry iced poptarts. They had looked back to see the wreckage and yet again stared at him gape jawed. Now he was sitting devouring a full breakfast plate with coffee like it was no ones business. Jane tried to bring the focus back to the information she wanted. "So how did you get inside that cloud?"

"Also," Darcy interrupted with a vaguely awed voice, "How could you eat an entire box of pop-tarts and still be this hungry?" Jane glared at her assistant, who was currently looking at Thor like he was an adorable puppy she found on the street. Clearly she had forgotten tasing him earlier that morning. He stuffed a quarter pancake into his mouth immediately after a large section of eggs, finishing without seeming to chew a single bite. Then he went for the coffee. He took a large swig then paused, looking interested at the mug in his hand.

"This drink," He mumbled around a mouth full of half-chewed food, "I like it!"

"I know its good right?"

"Another!" He took the mug in his hand and promptly smashed it on the floor. They all jumped then stared in shock as the entire diner stared at the man who carelessly just threw a mug onto the ground. She gaped, trying to understand what happened, as she stared at the broken mug.

"Sorry, Izzy. Little accident." She said as she leapt to clean up the shards of ceramic from the floor. He looked down at her from his seat completely nonchalant and smiling. "What was that?" She spat at his smug face.

"It was delicious. I want another."

"Well, you could have just said so."

"I just did." He seemed almost confused by her reaction as he let out a deep chuckle.

She felt like hitting her head against the dirty table. "I mean ask, nicely."

"I meant no disrespect."

"All right well, no more smashing. Deal?"

He seemed to deflate slightly, but he still seemed smug, "You have my word." She relaxed again, her eyes darting up to the trucker who came through the jingling door. "Good." He was staring at her again and she quickly looked somewhere else.

The word satellite from the direction of the counter drew her attention. "Excuse me, did you say there was a satellite crash?" He nodded in affirmation. "oh my god." Satellite crashes were rare and she winced at the thought of how much the pile of scrap had cost.

"This is going on facebook, smile." Darcy said as she watched Thor continue to wolf down a huge amount of food. He paused in his chewing to look up at Darcy, his cheeks swollen like a chipmunks as he flashed a huge close mouthed smile; with dimples. Jane groaned, life was so not fair sometimes, she had never gotten anywhere close to a guy that good looking, and he was crazy. Just her luck.

"What did it look like, this satellite?" Erik cut in, speaking for the first time all morning.

"Well," The trucker twisted as best as he could in the seat, "I don't know anything about satellites, but it was heavy. I mean, nobody could lift it." Thor stood abruptly, a smirk on his face. The man continued, "They said it was radioactive, but I had my hands all over it."

Thor grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around in the seat. "Which way?"

"Oh, uh, 'bout fifty miles west of here." Thor immediately turned and headed for the door. The trucker turned to shout after him, "But I wouldn't waste my time. Looked like the whole Army was coming when we left." Jane grabbed her jacket from the back of the chair and followed him, her temper rising as her only source walked out of the diner without a backwards glance.

He was striding down the street, uncaring about the cars that screeched to a stop right in front of his feet. "where are you going?" She shouted after him. He was standing in the middle of an intersection, ignorant of the cars swerving and honking at him. He was staring up at the sun, turning and squinting against the light before he came to a conclusion and began walking firmly down the street.

"fifty miles west of here," He didn't even turn back to look at her leaving her to run after him with his huge strides.

"Why?"

"To get what belongs to me."

"Oh so you own a satellite now?" She scoffed at him, drawing even and slowing to a quick walk. He glanced at her a smug grin on her face that rankled. Though honestly she was beginning to admire his tenacity.

"Its not what they say it is." She frowned.

"Well, whatever it is the government seems to think its theirs, so do you intend to just go in there and take it?"

"Yes," The frustration was back and she almost screamed. He was just so freaking cocky, thinking he could just waltz in and steal back what the government had taken. "If you take me there now, I'll tell you everything you wish to know."

"Everything," She asked tentatively.

"Yes," Her heart leapt, her project could still be saved. "All the answers you seek will be yours once I reclaim Moinijr."

"Myeu-muh?" Darcy interrupted. "What's Myeu-muh?"

Erik's voice cut through the buzzing of potential data in her head, "Can I have a word, Jane." She turned to her mentor, realizing that she and Thor had been staring at eachother for a while.

She and Erik moved to the sidewalk, she kept glancing back at Thor, afraid he'd disappear again if she stopped looking at him for too long. "Please don't do this."

"You saw what I saw last night! This is no coincidence," She snapped back, sick of having this conversation. "We have to find out what's in the crater."

"But I'm not talking about the crater, I'm talking about him." Erik jerked his head back towards Thor, who was still standing calmly in the middle of the road.

"But he's promising us answers."

"He's delusional. Listen to what he's saying. He's talking about Mjolnir, and and Thor and Bifrost. These are the stories I grew up with as a child."

She stamped her foot slightly in frustration, unable to keep going forward when he was pulling the surrogate father card on her. "I'm… just going to drive him." She tried one last ditched effort, "That's it!"

"He's dangerous Jane." She sighed, beaten down as she turned away and back towards her only source. She knew that he was just worried about the tunnel vision she'd get when she was in the middle of a project.

"I'm sorry, but I can't drive you." She said firmly, an attempt to rein in her dignity after such a childish display.

"Then this is where we say good bye," He stepped closer and she almost jumped. He reached out to grab her hand and brought it to his lips. His eyes held hers for a moment and she felt herself blush, melt and giggle like a schoolgirl.

"That…" She attempted then stuttered. "Thank you."

He inclined his head to her, the smile for once not laced with arrogance. He looked at Erik and Darcy, acknowledging them with the regalness one would expect for real royalty. And he inspired respect as Darcy bobbed what looked like a curtsey and Erik gave a little bow. Jane giggled again. "Farewell," He spoke in their direction but his eyes remained on her face. He gave her one last smile and turned walking down the middle of the street like he knew the world would part to let him pass.

"Lets get back to the lab," Erik said distantly behind her, but she paid no attention as she watched him until he was out of sight.

She followed a few yards behind Erik and Darcy, her mind still on the crazy man who had just left. She frowned at her reaction in hindsight, unsure where the schoolgirl reaction had come from. Even with Donald, there were never the giddy butterflies that had suddenly appeared in her stomach. She wouldn't deny that he was the fittest guy she had ever seen, but that fact was thoroughly offset by the fact that he thought he was a Celtic god. She nearly tripped over the uneven sidewalk as she drew even with the corner, catching up with Darcy and Erik. A truck pulled up to the stop sign, stopping for a moment before growling down the street. But it was a long enough hesitation for her to notice what was piled into the back of it. "That's my stuff!" She shrieked. Noticing that the truck was one of a few parked around her lab, currently being loaded with her things. She booked it across the street, ignoring a screech of tires. "What the hell is going on here?!" She screamed as she slid to a stop in front of the group of suits standing outside her door. Her anger was directed at the middle aged balding man in sunglasses who was clearly in charge.

"Ms. Foster, I'm Agent Coulson, with SHIELD."

"I don't care who you work for, you can't do this." She stared at him, gaping in shock. She had heard about government agencies coming in, sweeping up research to make it disappear into the vacuum of bureaucracy. Still she had never pictured being in this position. Most of the scientific community completely disregarded her theories as ridiculous, so she never figured the government would take interest.

Jane felt a tug on her arm, which she ignored to glare daggers at the Fed. "Jane. This is more serious than you realize. Let it go."

"Let it go?! This is my life!" She flashes a glare at Erik, who looks worried and a little bit scared.

"We're here investigating a security threat. We need to appropriate your equipment and all your atmospheric data." The agents voice was level and disinterested in her emotional outburst. It made her want to slug him. With the recent success of her research and the groundbreaking findings she was on the verge of articulating, another thought occurred to her.

"By appropriate do you mean steal?" She snapped as more agents brushed past her carrying her dismantled equipment. The agent just shoved a check into her hand.

"This should more than compensate." She threw it on the ground without looking at it, her fury rising to new heights.

"I can't just pick up replacements from RadioShack! I made most of that equipment myself!"

"Then I'm sure you can do it again."

Sensing the failure of her current strategy she tried another one, "And I'm sure I can sue you for violating my constitutional rights!"

This got a reaction even if it was just a pitying look over the tops of his sunglasses, "We're the good guys, Ms. Foster!"

"So are we! We're on the verge of understanding something extraordinary." She drew her bag from her book and waved it in his face. "Everything I know about this phenomenon is in this lab and in this book and no one has the right to take it from me!"  
With a small gesture from the senior agent Jane felt the book wrenched from her grasp. Instinctively she reacted, like a mother over her child, launching herself after the agent. Erik grabbed her arms and yanked her back as she struggled to retrieve her last tenuous connection to eight years of work and obsession.

"Thank you for your cooperation," Agent Coulson said mildly as his agents finished and got into the large standard government SUV's. She would have spat in the dirt as his feet if she wasn't busy trying to hold herself together.

In a blur of dust they were gone and she immediately darted inside to survey the damage. The room was almost entirely empty, with scattered wires and empty plugs being the only sign of the equipment she had spent years making and tuning. She flipped through some papers realizing that they were only receipts and useless doodles Darcy had done. Jane screamed her fury, throwing them uselessly at the wall. Breathing heavily she watched them float slowly and unsatisfactorily to the floor. Storming past a speechless and gaping Darcy and Erik she threw herself up the stairs, towards the roof. It was her one sanctuary, a place where Darcy knew not to bother her. She sat on the edge, her feet dangling, ignoring how the edge cut into her thighs.

Staring up at the sky she went over the events of the past few days. Fury still coursed through her veins, her hands clenching against the edge of the roof. Years of research were gone, the thing she had sacrificed her life for, her relationships. She knew the insult hidden behind the kind words Donald threw at her as he left their small apartment. Married to her work. She knew that he and everyone else thought she was obsessed.

She frowned at herself, knowing that the idea wasn't inaccurate. She went after her goals with a single minded tenacity. It was how she had always been, since she had been diagnosed as a genius at age five. She skipped grades like pebbles, darting ahead of most expectations, except her own. Most things came to her like breathing, but astrophysics, it was a struggle, a challenge in a life where very little was. Well astrophysics and personal relationships. She let out a small chuckle as she fell back against the roof, staring up at the sky until she saw spots when she closed her eyes.

Shadows crossed her vision as she felt Erik and Darcy settle down on either side of her. She sat up without looking at them, staring into the middle distance instead. They sat in silence for a moment.

"Years of research gone," She finally broke the silence. Acknowledging it made her want to cry.

"They even took my ipod." Darcy piped up beside her.

"And your back-ups?" Erik asked gently.

"They look the back-ups. They took the backups of our back-ups. They were very through."

"I just downloaded, like, thirty songs on there."

Jane snapped, "Would you please stop talking about your stupid ipod?!" She sighed, unhappy she was taking her frustrations out on one of her few friends. "Who are these people?"

"I knew this scientist." Erik said quietly, "The pioneer in Gamma radiation. SHIELD showed up and, um…" HE trailed off for a moment, looking sad, "He wasn't heard from again."

"They're not going to do that to us," She said firmly, determination rising again. "I'm gonna get everything back."

"Come on, please. Let me contact one of my colleagues. He's had some dealings with these people before. I'll email him and maybe he can help."

"They took your laptop too." Jane glanced over at Darcy and despite everything couldn't help but let out a little giggle at the look on Eriks face.

"Lets go." She stood with a groan. "I'll drive you to the library."

Fifteen minutes later she sat in the van idling in the towing zone, waiting for Erik to finish his email. Her fingers drummed impatiently against the steering wheel when something caught her eye. She leaned forward, squinting against the sunlight to see Thor walking into the local petshop. She sighed, debating between waiting for Erik and going back to their now empty lab and helping the man who was now the only piece of evidence SHIELD had managed not to steal. She knew the choice Erik would prefer, but still… the temptation was there and strong. Even if she just had her notebook, it would be enough to save her from having to start completely over. The debate only took a second before she threw the car into drive and headed down the street. In that instant she made her decision to try and see if Thor could help her get her research back. She pulled up and hit the horn, jumping because she had never actually heard it before. "You want a lift?" She shouted out the window at the man who looked like he was taking up the entire inside of the tiny pet shop.

He turned to her with a grin that made her heart jump and stutter as he strides confidently across the street and, after a moment of confusion, into the car beside her. As he lets the door slam shut she pressed on the accelerator and headed out of town, her guilt at leaving Erik left on the sidewalk. They start down the main road and as it ends she turns off straight across the desert, driving towards the setting sun. A glance in the rear view mirror told her that they were going to get hit with a storm that night; a big one judging by the size of the dark grey clouds. After living in the area she knew storms hit fast and left just as quickly.

She glanced at the man in the seat beside her, alert and focused on the horizon. He looked calm and confident, the red light from the sun casting sharp shadows across his handsome face. His excitement for what they were about to do was clear, and catching. "I've never done anything like this before! Have you ever done anything like this before?"

He grinned at her, looking almost amused by her excitement. "Many times. You're brave to do it."

Jane let out a scoff, "They just stole my entire life's work. I really don't have anything left to lose."

"But you're clever," Her hands jerked slightly on the wheel as her eyes snapped to him for a moment. "Far more clever than anyone else in this Realm." The cockiness was back again, annoying even though it was on her behalf.

"This realm? Why do you talk like that?" She shook her head, her eyes going back to the road in front of them.

"You think me strange?" she let out an involuntary laugh, glancing back at him to see a full smile on his face.

"Yeah, just a little." She teased him.

"Good strange or bad strange?"

"I'm not sure yet." When she looked at him again he was staring at her intently. She found herself staring back, her eyes darting over the beard that was so soft against her hand, and those blue eyes, looking dark grey like the storm clouds behind them in the fading light. Suddenly the van lurched as it fell off of the raised dirt road. She snapped her eyes back forward, regaining control of the car. "Sorry," She muttered feeling extensively embarrassed at her fumble. After a moment her eyes were drawn back to him, admiring the confident tilt of his jaw, the way his entire body was leaning forward in anticipation. "Who are you?" She felt herself mutter, "Really?"

"You'll see soon enough."

"You promised me answers," She snapped back and he grinned at her.

"What you seek, it's a bridge?"

"A bridge!" He had said exactly what she needed him to. "Like an Einstein-Rosen bridge?" She nearly bounced out of her seat in excitement.

"More like a rainbow bridge." She glanced back at him again, excitement fading into annoyance once again.

"God I hope you're not crazy." She muttered half to herself and beside her he let out a huge booming laugh. The ground sharply rose in front of them. They had reached the edge of the crater.

"Dim your lights," He muttered, every muscle tensed. The glow over the top of the crater told them that SHIELD was there and working through the night. "Stop the van." She put it into park and got out, shutting her door as quietly as possible. She scrambled up the ridge after him, stumbling on loose rocks like an idiot while he climbed with grace. They popped over the top of the ridge looking into the crater that was about a mile across. In the middle of the crater there was a small fortress, erected in only a few hours, complete with barbed wire fences and armed guards. It was huge and extensive, sprawling over the ground like a doodle on an etch-i-sketch.

"That isn't a satellite crash. They would have hauled the wreckage away, not built a city around it." She muttered to him as he suddenly rose to his feet and shrugged off the jacket she had given him.

"You're going to need this."

"Why?" She asked as thunder rumbled overhead, answering her question for her. Sheepishly she reached out and took the jacket.

"Stay here. Once I have Mjolnir, I will return what they stole from you." He paused for a brief moment, "Deal?"

"No! Look at what's down there! Do you think you can just walk in, grab our stuff, and walk out?!" She was feeling overwhelming worried for the man who towered over her.

"No," She felt relief for a moment until he continued. "I'm going to fly out." She blinked, suddenly remembering that this was a man who insisted he was Thor, he owned a satellite and had destroyed an entire medical emergency room. She hesitated, suddenly remembering all of the reasons she was unsure. Before she could say anything he was gone, sliding down the loose rocks at the edge of the ridge as the first drops of rain began to fall. She frowned, contemplating going after him, but knowing that she'd probably hinder more than help. He continued down the hill until, despite his blonde hair, he faded into the darkness. She contented herself with throwing the huge jacket over her shoulders. It was the only piece of the wardrobe that hadn't belonged to Donald. Rather it belonged to her father. She had worn it so much it didn't smell like his ink, metal and cigar smoke anymore, instead it smelled of her perfume. Until now. Something distinctly masculine and warm saturated every stitch and she felt herself comforted by it as she cuddled under its folds as the rain began to truly fall.

Even though she couldn't see Thor anymore she knew the exact moment he breached the outer perimeter because security bells alarmed and the whole site lit up like the fourth of July. Frantic she dove behind the edge of the ridge. The reality of her actions finally won out over her initial rebellious phase. Jane dug through her pockets for her cellphone and hit her recently called list. She got Erik's voicemail. The recorded message stopped and she stuttered her way through her message. "Erik, okay first of all I'm fine," She wince as sounds of violence from the fort were loud enough to hear through the speaker. "But if you don't hear from me again, you might want to come out to the crater site and look for me. I kind of did exactly what you told me not to do. So yeah.. sorry… bye." She flipped the phone shut and huddled down against the rocks. The storm hit with a sudden fury, whipping through the air as lightning crackled across the sky in blinding glory. After a few moments she tentatively crawled up towards the lip, peeking over it with the hood pulled low against the rain. She saw a swarm of agents and guards heading towards the central structure. "Oh no," She breathed to herself, knowing what was happening but hoping against all hope it wasn't the case. When thirty minutes passed without his return and the lights and alarms stopped blaring, she knew what had happened. He had been captured or killed, and it was her fault. She slid down the muddy side of the crater back to the car.

She returned to the lab, defeated and feeling completely horrible for encouraging him. Erik didn't scold her right away, taking one look at her and sending her to the trailer for a shower and a change of clothing. Despite standing under a scalding stream for twenty minutes she was still shaking when she got out. She changed and then wrapped herself tightly in the blanket from her bed. Darcy and Erik were speaking softly when she got back to the lab.

"We have to go back!" She said firmly from the doorway.

"No." Erik stared her down, arms crossed tightly across his chest.

"I can't just leave him there!"

"Why not?" His gaze was thunderous as he stared at her.

She tried not to grind her teeth together in frustration. "You didn't see what happened out there!"

"Look its Myeu-muh!" Darcy interrupts from where she's sitting by the table. Jane moved forward to look at the old hardcover she was looking it. It was an illustration of an intricately carved hammer.

"Where did you find this?" She demanded. Darcy glanced up at Erik and Jane turned.

"In the children's section. I wanted to show you how ridiculous his story was."

"Aren't you always the one who's always told me to chase down all leads, all possibilities?" She leaned against the table, bracing herself on clenched fists.

"I was talking about science, not magic!"

"Magic is Science we don't understand yet.' Arthur C. Clarke," For once she was happy with her photographic memory as she remembered a joke poster that hung in the breakroom at her university.

"Who wrote science fiction!"

"The precursor to science fact!" She shouted back at him, slamming a fist against the table. She had never thought of her research as magic, but as science so advanced that no one, not even herself, understood it yet.

"In some cases," He dismissed her argument with a shrug of his shoulders.

"If that's really an Einstein-Rosen bridge out there, then there's something on the other side. Advanced beings could have crossed it…"

He was clearly exacerbated with her now, "Jane…"

"A primitive culture like the Vikings might have worshipped them as deities." Jane turns surprised at her assistant, feeling a rush of warmth for the younger woman who tentatively but accurately took her side. "Yes exactly! Thank you!" She grinned and Darcy smiled widely back. She finally felt a connection with the young woman who had been working at her side for months. They both turned back to Erik expectantly who seemed to crumple against the duo.

"Jane, if you do this, you'll find yourself in a situation that I can't get you out of this time."

"I'll help," Darcy grinned, scooting over to wrap her arm through Janes. Erik looked at them for a long moment, before sighing.

"Okay, this is what we'd have to do."

It was almost dawn again when there was a loud rapping on the metal wall. Jane jumped to her feet, taking a moment to breath before opening the door. She had been up and reading since Erik had left several hours before. She had gotten a text saying that he and Thor were out of the red and on their way back, but that had been hours. She threw the door open to see Eriks butt in her face. She blinked and took a step back, curious if she was dreaming or maybe hallucinating after a long crazy day. Now that she thought about it, this really wasn't the weirdest thing she had seen today. She looked around Erik's to see Thor who seemed to be carrying Erik over his shoulder.

"Erik!" She gasped, when he didn't answer she looked at Thor, "Is he alright?"

"He's fine. Not injured at all!" Thor swayed slightly as he stood. She stumbled backwards, pressing herself against the counter as Thor attempted to squeeze by. The trailer wasn't meant for anyone that much over six feet tall and as he ducked he accidently banged Eriks head on the door. "Sorry my friend," Thor laughed as he carefully moved Erik through the door.

"What happened?"

"We drank. We fought. He made his ancestors proud!"

She shook her head, "Just put him on the bed." Thor moved past her and Erik gave her a happy drunken grin over his shoulder before he and Thor both tumbled onto the bed. She almost giggled.

"I still don't believe you're the God of Thunder." Erik slurred blearily from the bed as Thor pushed himself into an almost standing position. "But you ought to be." Thor patted him somewhat roughly on the cheek and pulled a blanket over him. She was surprised, shaking her head at the instant camaraderie that is formed between guys. She felt a wave of affection for this stranger who had turned her world upside-down in just twenty four hours. He straightened and turned to her, his eyes slightly fuzzy but still alert.

"These are your chambers?" He asked and Jane suddenly realized that he was standing… in her bedroom. Her cheeks burned and she suddenly scrambled to clean up the mess around her.

"Well, it's more of a temporary living space, really." She was babbling. Her hands connected with a bowl and a box of cereal and instinctively she shoved those into a cupboard without really looking at it. "I don't usually have visitors here…" She turned back to him, realizing suddenly that he was only inches away from her in the small space, his head ducked so he didn't hit his head on the ceiling. "Actually…" She breathed.. I never have visitors." She suddenly stopped, realizing she just put the cereal in the sink and the dirty bowl in the cupboard. She turned and grabbed them both, throwing them on the counter. "Can we go outside?"

He grinned at her and nodded, moving to let her past him. She leaned as far back as possible but still brushed against him as she moved past. She flushed bright red as she practically ran up the stairs to the roof, knowing that he'd be right behind her. She had lit the fire in the pit and was settling down on the lawn chair by her telescope when he appeared. He handed her a blanket before sitting on the next chair over. It creaked under his weight.

She glanced at him, marveling on the fact that their plan to bust him out of the government facility succeeded. He met her gaze and she realized what was different. There was no arrogance, or cockiness anymore, just a heartbreaking sadness. She looked away, staring up at the sky. She shifted uneasily in the silence, "I come up here sometimes when I can't sleep. Or when I'm trying to reconcile particle date. Or when Darcy's driving me crazy." She paused, realizing how much of her time she spent on the roof. "I come up here a lot now that I think about it." She laughed softly to herself. She fell silent again, glancing at him from the corner of her eye. His face was turned to the stars, glowing in the light of the fire. "I'm glad you're safe," She murmured, staring at him shyly.

"You've been very kind. I've been far less grateful than you deserve." She looked up at him, confused.

"I also hit you with my car a couple of times, so it kind of evens out." She teased him. He shifted to get to his pocket and tugged something out that he had shoved into it. She gasped and grabbed it from his hands, flipping it open to make absolute sure it was hers. "I don't believe it…"

"It was all I could get back. Not as much as I promised you," He looked up at her with a small smile. "I'm sorry."

She leapt to reassure him, "No no! This is good. Thank you. This means I don't have to start from scratch!" She reached out to squeeze his hand softly before returning her attention to the book in her hands. She didn't have to start over, she could still publish. Then her face fell.

"What's wrong?" She looked up at him, surprised to see concern etched on his face.

"SHIELD, whatever they are. They're never going to let this research see the light of day." She said sadly.

His voice startled her, full of determination, "You must do this. You must finish what you've started!" He leaned forward, as if he could get her to succeed through sheer force of will.

"Why?"

"Because you're right. Look," He stood, moving to sit beside her, close enough she could feel the brush of his shirt against her arm. "Your ancestors called it magic. You call it science. I come from a place where they're one and the same." He had flipped her book open to a page of her journal where she had drawn some planets. He began to move the pencil across the page, drawing lines around the planets.

"What is it?" She asked, the picture he drew made no sense. He looked up at her expectantly and frowned slightly when she still looked confused.

"My father explained it to me like this," He leaned close until her shoulder was pressed against him. "Your world is one of the Nine Realms of the Cosmos, linked to each other by the branches of Yggdrasil, the Worlds Tree. Now, you see it everyday, without realizing. Images glimpsed through this Hooble telescope."

"Hubble," She corrected instinctively and he grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry, Hubble telescope. So, Nine Realms, you have Midgard, Yodenheim, Manaheim and Asgard… and that's where I come from." She stared up at him, mesmerized by the tale he wove for her.

"What's it like?" She asked softly. She didn't understand what it was about him, but she felt that he wouldn't lie to her and that he truly believed what he was telling her.

"It is beautiful," He murmured, "It sits in a sea of stars, the buildings golden in the light. It's a beacon of power and grace for the nine realms." He signed softly, "But I'm beginning to find that even it can pale in comparison to things here on Earth." He glanced down at her and she blushed deeply at the look on his face. She settled against his side, feeling the warmth of him through the blanket and the clothing.  
"Tell me more," She asked softly.

He grinned, his face turned up towards the sky as if he was trying to remember. "At the beginning of time, nothing existed. There was no earth, no ocean, no men or animals. Only a great yawning abyss of nothingness…" She felt herself drifting off, listening to the soft rumble of his voice inside his chest. She felt his hand brush against her check and the soft feeling of lips against her hair before everything drifted off.

((A/N: hey guys! I'm really bummed I don't have a single review on this yet. So I'd really love to have 5 or so by the time I post the final chapter! One more chapter of this, then Pepper Potts is up next))


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